Bottle warmer for automobiles



Oct. 21, 1947. g F. FULLER 2,429,512

BOTTLE WARMER FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed Aug. 2, 1945 t1 Mom/am d,

Patented Oct. 21, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BOTTLE WARMER FORAUTOMOBILES Charles F. Fuller, Hamden, Conn.

Application August 2, 1945, Serial No. 608,497

3 Claims. (01. 219-38) This invention relates to electric bottlewarmers, and more particularly to a device of this kind for use in anautomobile. It very often occurs that when people are traveling withchildren it is necessary to warm the childrens food, and it iscontemplated by the present invention to provide a bottle warmer whichmay be readily attached to some part of the car, such, for example, asthe door of the glove compartment or the steering post, which device maybe electrically operated from the usual low-Voltage current delivered bythe automobile battery.

In the present instance, I have illustrated a bottle warmer providedwith a heat element designed to be immersed in water in the receptacleof the warmer, and to heat this water to the boiling point so that thebottle itself, when positioned in the receptacle, may be heated by thehot'Water and steam issuing therefrom. The receptacle of the warmer isprovided with a pair of projecting contact pins which are adapted to bereceived in the sockets of a plug so constructed that it may be readilysecured to the door of the glove compartment.

The contact pins are so situated relatively to the receptacle that thelower surface of the plug and the bottom of the receptacle aresubstantially on the same level, so that when the door of the glovecompartment is open and the contact pins on the receptacle inserted intothe plug, the receptacle will rest upon the door and be held in place bythe engagement of the pins with the contacts in the plug. Thisconnection, therefore, serves the double purpose of making theelectrical connection with the heat element and holding the receptaclein place.

If desirable, a separate clamping device may be provided upon the plug,which will also clamp the receptacle and hold it in place if theengagement of the contact pins by the plug is not sufiicient for thispurpose. Also, in the case of cars which have no glove compartment, aclamp may be provided for clamping the receptacle upon the steering postor the like.

I have found it very desirable in a device of this kind to employ aheating element which will be immersed in the water in the receptacle,and not use this Water, as is sometimes done, to make electrical contactbetween two electrical terminals. With the disclosed apparatus I findthat it is possible to use a very small amount of water, and that thecurrent from the automobile battery is sufficient to heat this water tothe boiling point so that the bottle containing the milk or other foodmay be efficiently warmed.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features andcombinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a bottle-warming device embodying myinvention, the receptacle and parts therein being shown in section;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the device;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the bottle-supporting means within thereceptacle;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 44 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an elevational view of a bottle warmer showing a modified formof my invention; and

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the plug used in the construction shown inFig. 5.

To illustrate a preferred form of my invention, I have shown a bottlewarmer comprising a receptacle 10 having a cover H, the receptacle andcover being formed of plastic or ceramic material such that it willreadily withstand the heat necessary to warm the bottle of food designedto be placed within the receptacle. At the lower portion-of thereceptacle is provided a flattened wall portion l2 in which are mountedcontact pins [3. These pins project from the receptacle, as shown, butpass though the walls thereof to terminate in binding posts I4 disposedinteriorly of the receptacle.

Connected to the binding posts are the ends of a heat element l5, which,as illustrated, consists of a circular coil of wire disposed adjacentthe bottom of the receptacle and extending peripherally about theinterior thereof adjacent the side walls. As has been already inferred,the receptacle is adapted to contain a certain amount, preferably asmall quantity, of water, in which this heat element is immersed, andwhich will receive sufiicient heat from the heat element to raise thewater to the boiling point.

Means are provided in the receptacle to support a bottle or the like,the contents of which are to be heated. This means comprises a basemember [6 which may be of refractory material, and which base member, asshown in Fig. 1, is disposed within the circular heat element [5. Uponthe member I6 is supported a disk I! which may conveniently be formed ofsheet metal, this disk ceptacle and occupies a substantial amount ofspace in the lower part of the receptacle, so that, while the quantityof water employed is small, it will extend a considerable distance upthe wall ofthe bottle of food, which also will take up considerablespace within the receptacle H).

A switch plug 19 is provided with sockets to rereceive the contact pins13, which sockets will, in the usual form, have contact members to makeelectrical contact with the pins 13, and these contacts will beconnected by the wires 20 with the automobile battery in a desiredmanner. This plug may be provided with a switch lever 2|, so that thecurrent may be turned on or off even while the contact pins I3 areengaged with the plug.

It will be noted that the lower surface of the plug is substantially onthe same level with the bottom of the receptacle Ill, and means areprovided for securing the plug to the inner surface of the glovecompartment of an automobile, for example, so that the receptacle whenconnected to the plug, as shown in Fig. 1, may also rest upon thesurface of this door.

For this purpose I have secured to the plug [9 a pair of strap-likeelements 22 and 23, these members being provided with perforations 24.These members may be pivotally secured to the plug by extending throughthese perforations the usual screws 25 normally provided in a plug ofthis character to hold the two halves of the plug together. It will benoted that the fastening element 22 is longer than the fastening element23, and that, when the screws 25 are passed through the perforations 22,these elements are pivotally connected to the plug so that they may bemoved angularly about their pivots to adjusted positions. It will befound that there are certain devices on the doors of glove compartmentsof automobiles which are secured by screws, and that the plug 59 may beconveniently secured in place by making use of these screws and passingthem through the perforations 2 3. By having the members 22 and 23pivotally secured to the plug, and by having a number of perforations ineach of these members, it will always be possible to adjust the members22 and 23 so that these screws may be accommodated in some of theopenings 2 regardless of the position of the screws. It may also benoted that, while I have shown the screws 25 as engaged in the endperforations of the elements 22 and 23, they may be engaged in any ofthe other periorations 24, so that the members 22 and 23 are not onlyadjustable angularly with relation to the plug, but also may be adjustedin the direction of their lengths, if this is necessary to accommodatethe existing screws found upon the door of the glove compartment of theparticular car in which the device is being used.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a clamping ring 26 may be secured by a screwor the like 21 to the upper portion of the receptacle, so that thereceptacle may be secured to the steering post or some other part of thecar if the car is not provided with a glove compartment. This clampingring may be provided with the usual separable ends 28 and 29, securedtogether by the screw 32 in the usual way, so that it may embrace thesteering rod and be tightened in place.

In Figs. and 6 of the drawing I have shown a slight modification of myinvention, in which a resilient clamp 81 is secured to the socket 19 byan L-shaped bracket 32 secured upon the upper end of one of the screws25. This clamp may or may not be used, but if used will cooperate withthe engagement of the contact pins [3 to hold the receptacle II! inplace and engaged with the plug [9. It Will be understood that the clamp3| extends only part way about the receptacle l0, and that the two armsof the clamp are resilient so that the receptacle may be sprung intoplace between these arms.

By providing the flattened portion 12 upon the receptacle, the contactpins 13 may be readily secured in the wall thereof, and extend outwardlyin parallel relation so that they may be received in the ordinarycommercial form of plug. They may be sealed in place with a fireproofsolder or the like, so as to withstand heat and at the same time bewater tight,

While I have shown and described some preferred embodiments of myinvention, it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all ofthe details shown, but is capable of modification and variation withinthe spirit of the invention and within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. An electric bottle warmer comprising a receptacle, a heat elementtherein, contact pins connected to said element and projecting from thereceptacle, a plug having sockets to snugly receive said pins, said pinsbeing located adjacent the lower portion of the receptacle whereby thebottom of the plug when attached to the receptacle is on substantiallythe same level as the bottom of the receptacle, and fastening memberssecured to the lower side of the plug and adapted to be secured to asupport, said members being pivotally secured to the plug and being ofdifferent lengths, and each having a plurality of perforations therein.

2. An electric bottle warmer comprising a receptacle, a heat elementtherein of circular shape, contact pins connected to said element andprojecting from the receptacle, a plug having sockets to snugly receivesaid pins, a member adjustably secured to said plug and adapted to besecured to a support, and supporting means within the receptacle, saidmeans comprising a base resting on the bottom of the receptacle withinthe heat element and a perforated disk on said base of substantially thesame diameter as the interior of the receptacle.

3. An electric bottle warmer comprising a receptacle, a heat elementtherein of circular shape, contact pins connected to said element andprojecting from the receptacle, a plug having sockets to snugly receivesaid pins, a member adjustably secured to said plug and adapted to besecured to a support, and supporting means within the receptacle, saidmeans comprising a base resting on the bottom of the receptacle withinthe heat element and a perforated disk on said base of substantially thesame diameter as the interior of the receptacle, and said heat elementsurrounding the base below said disk.

CHARLES F. FULLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,091,774 Shoenberg Mar 31, 19141,227,935 Robertson May 29, 1917 1,604,972 Clarke Nov. 2, 1926 1,719,228Langos July 2, 1929 2,370,238 Fisher Feb. 27, 1945

